Funeral for Georgia officer moved to accommodate large crowd

EASTMAN, Ga. (AP) — Authorities say the funeral for a slain Georgia police officer is being moved from a church to a gymnasium in order to accommodate the expected large crowd.

Eastman police tell The Telegraph (http://bit.ly/2aZKxj3) that Eastman Patrol Officer Timothy Smith's funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Dodge County High School gym. They said the original location at a local church was deemed not large enough.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials have said that Smith was responding to a call of a suspicious person with a gun when he was shot Saturday in Eastman, a rural city about 60 miles southeast of Macon. Authorities later apprehended 24-year-old Royheem Deeds and charged him with murder.